DVD: Iggy Pop - Live San Fran 1981
(Target/MVD)
Reviewed by John Sekerka

---

Missing a front tooth and clad in a very chic black miniskirt, garters, stockings, fluffy shirt, black leather jacket and motorcycle cap, Iggy is in full 1981 glam mode. Fresh off his David Bowie collaborations, Iggy steals his guitarist (Carlos Alomar), pilfers Blondie drummer Clem Burke and adds three more players to crowd the stage. It's an odd transition time for music as Spandau Ballet and the new romantics are storming the charts, sweeping away the punk debris. And it's an odd transition time for Iggy. He's flogging the schizophrenic Party album with a schizophrenic stage show: getting all glitzy at times, then offering rough Stooges material. The band sounds good, and Iggy is about as professional as possible, which in itself is a rarity, and it all works for ambitious numbers like "Pumping For Jill," but it also reinforces the vitriolic punk still seething inside, which we do not see on this night.

© 2005 - John Sekerka